Israel's Chief Rabbinate could lose its monopoly on the issuing of kashrut certification if it does not follow through on a High Court ruling ordering it to change the current system in which food vendors pay kashrut inspectors for certification that they comply with the Jewish dietary laws, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit warned Wednesday.
The High Court last year ordered the rabbinate to sever the connection between the kashrut inspectors and the owners of food businesses, saying there is an inherent conflict of interest when the food vendors are those who pay the officials who issue the kashrut certificates.
According to a report on Walla News, Mendelblit sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chief Rabbis David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Religious Services Minister David Azoulay telling them that the longer the implementation of the High Court ruling is delayed, the "more likely that the constitutionality of the Law Prohibiting Fraud in Kashrut could be re-examined."
Mendelblit wrote that if the system of kashrut certification is not solved quickly, "it might be determined that the instructions of the law pertaining to private entities issuing kashrut certificates are unenforceable."
In July, Israel Hayom reported that the government was spearheading an initiative to establish a new government entity that would be responsible for kashrut certification, to avoid situations such as allegations of corruption or strikes by inspectors.
The city of Petach Tikvah, east of Tel Aviv, has already successfully tested a pilot of this kind of program, with inspectors employed by a local supervisory entity.
However, it may be more practical for the government to establish a nonprofit entity that would hire and pay kashrut inspectors and provide oversight of their work.
A business owner seeking a kashrut certificate would pay the company, rather than an inspector directly. In addition to eliminating the conflict of interest, the system is expected to lower the cost of obtaining kashrut certification.
Mendelblit urged the ministers and rabbis to sever the connection between kashrut inspectors and the businesses they supervise by next month, when the High Holidays begin.
